The present invention relates to educational devices, and more particular to a device for visually facilitating the explanation to students the causes of the seasons as well as the monthly and daily progression of the earth relative to the sun.
Since the days of Copernicus and Galileo, teachers have struggled with ways to explain to students the interrelationship between the sun and the earth. Even in modem times, basic misconceptions remain about the workings of the alignment of the earth relative to the sun to explain the causes of the seasons and even to explain the times of day. Earth globes are a omnipresent teaching tool in many educational devices however they lack the directional orientation markers of where the sun should be oriented as a function of the months in the year.
The two-dimensional earth-moon-sun instructional model disclosed by Dahlman in U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,500 discloses a two-dimensional polar view of the earth rotatably mounted on a flat supporting base representing the celestial plane. The Dahlman disclosure suffers a number of drawbacks that may impede the learning process. In particular, the Dahlman disclosure is unduly complicated by having models of the moon and as well as shadow plates which may confuse the student. Furthermore, because the Dahlman disclosure exclusively employs a two-dimensional model of the earth, the student may not grasp the concept as easily as using a three dimensional orientation of the earth relative to the sun. In addition the Dahlman disclosure doesn""t incorporate an indexing wheel for aligning a globe relative to the seasons and the months of the year.
The educational device disclosed by Moulton in U.S. Pat. No. 1,113,237 discloses a chart representing the earth""s orbit with a plurality of gradations dividing the orbit into sections and having an earth ball model which may be progressively stepped along this two dimensional elliptical orbital model of the earth""s orbit. The Moulton disclosure suffers a number of drawbacks that may impede the learning process. In particular, the Moulton disclosure is unduly complicated by having a large plurality of lines on the board that are likely to confuse the student. Furthermore, the student is required to move the earth ball model around the orbit that may bore the student as the student moves the model through the yearly cycle. In addition, the Moulton disclosure doesn""t teach the seasonal effects brought about by the differential relative orientation of the earth to the sun due to the earth""s ecliptic angle of inclination.
The calendar tellurian disclosed by Nichols in U.S. Pat. No. 615,098 discloses a board having a series of marked apertures representing the elliptical path of the earth around the sun. The board having a plurality of apertures corresponding to the number of days in the year, and a ball or globe representing the earth which can be moved into these apertures to simulate the earth""s orbit around the sun. The Nichols disclosure suffers a number of drawbacks. For instance, the student is required to move the earth ball model around the orbit which may bore the student as the student moves the model through the yearly cycle. In addition, the Nichols disclosure doesn""t teach the seasonal effects brought about by the differential relative orientation of the earth to the sun due to the earth""s ecliptic angle of inclination.
All of the above devices are rather complicated and cumbersome, as well as, non of these above mentioned devices have an indexing wheel for aligning a globe along the ecliptic to teach the causes of the seasons as well as being able to teach the orientation of the earth relative to the sun during various months of the year. Therefore, there still exist a need for a simple, inexpensive and easily-operable device suitable for use as an educational tool to teach these concepts. This present invention provides a simple educational device that fulfills these needs.
Therefore, a need exist for a new and improved educational device that can be used to teach students the concepts of the seasonal, monthly and daily relationships associated with the differential orientations of the earth relative to the sun, so that the student may be able to visualize these concepts in a simple manner. In this respect, the educational device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of teaching students the seasonal, monthly and daily relationships brought about by the differential orientations of the earth relative to the sun by using a simple and easy use understandable educational device.
The present invention is an educational device for use with an earth globe having ecliptic angle of inclination for teaching students the position of the earth relative to the sun through the various seasons. The educational device can also be used to teach the months of the year as well as teaching the causes of night and day. The educational device having a flat board, which represents the earth""s orbital plane, and having a sun label, a plurality of season labels and a plurality of month labels affixed on the facade of the board. The educational device also has a indexer wheel pivotally mounted to the board for rotatably mounting the earth globe so that the student may be able to freely rotatably maneuver the earth globe relative to the season labels so that the student can visually grasp the causes of the seasons as the year proceeds.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known type educational devices now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved educational device which will be described subsequently in great detail, is to provide a new and improved educational device which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises an educational device for use with an earth globe having ecliptic angle of inclination for teaching students the position of the earth relative to the sun through the various seasons. The educational device can also be used to teach the months of the year as well as teaching the causes of night and day. The educational device having a flat board, which represents the earth""s orbital plane, and having a sun label, a plurality of season labels and a plurality of month labels affixed on the facade of the board. The educational device also has a indexer wheel pivotally mounted to the board for rotatably mounting the earth globe so that the student may be able to freely rotatably maneuver the earth globe relative to the season labels so that the student can visually grasp the causes of the seasons as the year proceeds.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution of the art may be better appreciated.
The invention may also include additional optional features. There are of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims attached.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved educational device that has all the advantages of the prior art educational devices and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved educational device that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved educational device that has a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such multipurpose storage unit and system economically available to the buying public.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new educational device that provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thererof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new educational device for allowing a user to visually learn about the ecliptic of the earth relative to the orbital plane of the earth around the sun . This makes it possible for the student to quickly learn about the causes of the seasons as time progresses through the year.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide the ability to illustrate the differences in the earth""s exposure to sunlight at various times in the year.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an new and improved educational device for allowing a user to visually learn the orientation of the earth surface relative to the sun as a function of the rotation of the earth. This makes it possible for the student to quickly learn about the causes of night and day. Furthermore, this makes it possible for the student to visually grasp the significance of the times of day or night relative to the earths rotation.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.